


Surprising Heroics

by CoranCoranTheGorgeousMan



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Botched Assassinations, Coran being Coran, First Meetings, Gen, Some Humor, Unlikely heroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-04
Updated: 2017-02-04
Packaged: 2018-09-22 00:17:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9573239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoranCoranTheGorgeousMan/pseuds/CoranCoranTheGorgeousMan
Summary: The first meeting of Coran and Alfor.Or, the story of how Coran, a lowly engineer, saved the life of King Alfor of Altea (twice).





	

He hit the small pad on the right wrist of his uniform, wincing when the hologram told him that oh yes, he was definitely late. Every single employee of the castle was expected to be there to watch the alliance ceremony the King was undertaking with Floin’s representative, from the lowest of the castle-keeping staff to their most skilled pilots. Although the King would hardly notice if he, a random, lowly, relatively new engineer that he’d never met wasn’t there, his supervisor certainly would. 

He skidded down the hallways of the castle that his grandfather had once painstakingly designed and made, taking every shortcut that he knew – and he knew all of them, considering that he had lived here with his grandfather when it was still being built. If he said so himself, he doubted anyone save for his late grandfather had ever known this castle as well as he did. He knew that his prior knowledge about the castle and how it worked had certainly been a consideration when it had been decided that he would be stationed here. A right here, a sharp left there (he nearly collided with the wall) and then straight ahead. 

He burst into the grand hall of the castle with all the subtlety of a Morvij (a luminescent creature six-foot-tall that comes close to creating earthquakes whenever it moves), causing several heads to turn to look at him. Luckily, he didn’t manage to disturb those involved in the ceremony, standing at the top of the steps, in front of the crowd of staff and guests. Unluckily, his supervisor was one of those who were disturbed. He flushed and moved beside his supervisor after receiving a pointed look, trying to seem as apologetic as possible.

Their new King spoke with a confidence that contradicted his age and experience as he thanked the Florin representative. “In these troubling times, it is reassuring to know that we have such excellent allies to rely on.”

“I couldn’t agree more, your majesty,” the Florin bowed his centre head, the left looking out curiously at the crowd, the right focused on King Alfor. “The Alteans are an ally that many nations can only ever dream of having. Especially considering your dedication to the overall of peace throughout the universe. The Florin will be glad to offer any assistance to you that we can.”

“We thank you, Risl, representative of the Florin, and pledge our assistance to your planet, in return.”

“As is Florin tradition, we ask that you humbly accept and take a bite from this Floric fruit, a fine fruit found only in the Southern tropical forests of our planet,” the representative turned and took the fruit from the guard that stood behind him.

King Alfor nodded, clearly having been prepped beforehand on Florin traditions. “In return, we ask that you accept this Junaberry flower, indigenous to our mountains. It is known for its lovely scent.” They swapped the fruit for the flower. Risl smelled the Junaberry before stating his approval of the scent.

The Floric fruit really was a lovely fruit, Coran thought to himself, as he watched his King move it closer to his face, preparing to take a bite. It had a rounded shape and was a bright orange colour, with even brighter yellow dots at the base that somehow managed to stand out even at a distance. Coran knew from experience that the fruit was very soft and strangely sour. He and his grandfather had once visited Florin, collecting a specific metal needed for the shield of the Green Lion, which had been the first lion to be made, built at the same time as the castle. Florin food in general was delicious, having such a variety of flavours and textures all incorporated into the same meal. 

His grandfather had been sure to warn him, though, that not all the food on Florin was edible to Alteans. He had told him the story of the time that a group of Altean explorers had crashed onto the Northern tropical forests of Florin, and had needed to scavenge for food as all their communicators were down. They’d eaten a fruit very similar to the Floric, called a Gasshwin. Unknown to them, it poisoned them all slowly, and none of them were still alive a Quintent later. When their bodies had been found, the fruit in their systems had been named the culprit, but no amount of Altean technology had devised a way to cure the Altean body of the toxins yet. His grandfather had said that the only difference between the safe Floric and the unsafe Gasshwin was that the latter had bright yellow dots at the bottom of it, while the Floric was just plain orange in colour.

Coran watched as his King continued to move the fruit towards his mouth, smiling idly at the thoughts of his grandfather, before he froze, his eyes widening in realisation. 

Oh no.

The fruit King Alfor was holding had yellow dots at its base.

Oh no.

That was not a Floric fruit.

Coran panicked. 

His feet started moving forward of their own accord, as he loudly screamed, “No!” Every single head in the room turned to him, including King Alfor’s and all three of Risl’s. He didn’t stop. He reached the steps quickly, and flew up them. He didn’t look, but he knew that his supervisor would have a look of utter mortification on his face. King Alfor looked startled, and didn’t make any move to stop Coran from grabbing the fruit out of his hand, which had frozen just in front of his mouth at Coran’s yell. Neither did any of the guards, either the Altean or the Florin, who clearly hadn’t expected the ceremony to be interrupted, and certainly not in such a manner.

“I apologise for the interruption, your majesty, but this is not a Floric fruit!” Coran babbled, the pitch of his voice reaching previously unheard heights. “I think there’s been some sort of terrible mistake! This is a Gasshwin fruit, you can tell by these yellow dots right here. Floric fruits do not have any yellow dots! This is highly poisonous to Alteans, and there is no known cure for it either. You cannot eat this!”

The stunned pause continued as Coran clamped his mouth shut, knowing that he tended to become more hysterical the longer he allowed himself to panic. 

“This is preposterous, King Alfor!” Risl took a step forward. “I assure you, this is a Floric fruit. We would never do anything to endanger the life of such a valuable ally to the Florin.” 

Finally, after staring wordlessly at Coran for a good while, he took the fruit. Coran flailed in distress, before realising that he thankfully did not attempt to take a bite from it, and instead just gave it to one of his guards with a nod. King Alfor then turned to Risl and his guard with a strained smile.

“I hope you don’t mind,” he began, his tone far calmer than Coran’s, “but we’re going to verify that this fruit is indeed a Floric fruit before I eat it. Just to be sure that there’s not been some sort of mix-up. I will be happy to eat the fruit once it has been proven to be save.”

Risl took another step forward, before he lunged at King Alfor with a snarl, drawing his sword from its sheath on his hip as he moved. Coran didn’t even think, he just moved in front of the shocked Altean King. He activated the holographic shield on his left arm, which was very helpful for any engineering mishaps, just before the sword struck him. The King’s guards jumped into action a good second after Risl started moving, quickly disarming both him and his guard. The numerous servants of the castle started scattering in panic, fearing that there would be another attack, trying to get organised into the emergency procedure. Coran relaxed, letting his holographic shield fall, still standing in front of King Alfor.

“Your majesty!” One of the guards rushed forward, bowing his head. “Are you alright? You were not injured in the attack?”

“No, no, I’m fine,” his voice sounded odd, dazed and confused. “This man saved me. Saved me for the second time, that is. Please have an interrogation team set up at once so we can attempt to figure out their motives.” He indicated to where the two had been restrained by the guards. “And have the castle citizens please be aware that we are unlikely to be facing an immediate attack, so emergency procedures are not necessary yet. We need to have a little talk with the Queen of Florin, so please arrange for a communication to be set up.”

The guard nodded, relieved, and scurried off to do as he had been asked. Some of the servants had clearly already guessed that an attack was not eminent, and had started peaking around various doors into the hall, trying to figure out what they should be doing.

He moved so that he was facing Coran. “What is your name and position?”

“I am Coran, your majesty, and I am an engineer.” He inclined his head respectfully. “I apologise for interrupting the ceremony, but I obviously could not allow you to eat the fruit when I realised that it was harmful.”

“Apologise? No need to apologise! Trust me, I’m very glad that you intervened. This whole alliance ceremony was clearly a sham on their part.” He looked contemptuously at the Florins, who were being manoeuvred out of the room. He then looked at Coran directly in the eye, giving him a genuine, if slightly stressed smile. “Thank you, Coran.” He held out his hand, and Coran shook it, trying to be as firm as he could in his grip. “I am in your debt.”

At that, Coran flushed significantly, before stammering, “I only did what any citizen of Altea would do, your majesty.”

“Perhaps, but you were the only one to notice that the fruit was not what we thought it was,” Alfor replied. “Although, tell me, how does an engineer know so much about the fruits of foreign planets?”

“My grandfather and I used to travel all over the universe, searching for new metals and materials we could use in his designs. He was the head architect and builder of the Castle of Lions, and we once travelled to Florin to collect material to make the Green Lion’s shield. He told me about the differences between the Floric and the Gasshwin on that journey.”

“My goodness, I can see the similarity between you and your grandfather now I think about it,” Alfor laughed, starting to look more relaxed now that the danger appeared to have passed. “Do you still travel much?”

“Whenever I can! I joined the Space Squad for that very reason.”

“You’re military?”

“Yes, your majesty. I was assigned here because I have experience dealing with the castle, what with my grandfather having designed it and all.”

The guard from before jogged up to them, stress visible in his face. He waited until Alfor looked to him. “I apologise for the interruption, your majesty, but we’re having a bit of trouble with the Queen of Florin. She’s insisting that she had no part in the attack, and that she wishes to meet with you in person.”

King Alfor looked pained, responding, “I shall come and speak with her.” He turned, and said to Coran, “thank you again, Coran, for all you have done. I would be delighted to talk with you again about your travels.”

“The honour would be all mine, your majesty,” Coran inclined his head and stepped back, as Alfor smiled at him and turned to walk out of the hall, clearly heading in the direction of the control room. 

Coran watched him go, still a bit stunned that he had actually talked to the King of Altea, before he noticed his supervisor at the bottom of the steps. He gulped, and started to reluctantly move down towards him. Although he doubted he would get scolded for his interruption, having stopped King Alfor from eating the fruit and all, he knew that he was still going to be in trouble for having been late in the first place. Not even his surprising heroics would have made his supervisor forget that little nugget of information.

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by Coran's character profile on the official website, which states, "He maintains a treasure trove of knowledge in his brain, but like a storage unit that's been flooded and pushed off a cliff, it takes a little while to find the pertinent information." It made me laugh, and I enjoyed giving the reader the knowledge that the fruit was not the safe version before he realised.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Comments and kudos appreciated, constructive crit always welcome!


End file.
